Why would the garage lie?

CompBunny

In the bangernomics thread a couple of weeks ago I posted that my Vauxhall Nova had failed its pre-MOT so I was selling it to a collector. I provided him with a list of faults that the mechanic had identified in the interest of honesty.

The collector I sold my car to (whose business is about 140 miles away, and I fully believe what he has said as its not in his interest to make it up!) has since contacted me advising me to avoid the garage we used in the future as the following things that he had said need fixing were untrue:
- Water pump leaking badly (mechanic said it was a wonder we hadn't blown a head gasket, they had got through litres of water just testing it)
- Extensive welding requried (collector said some welding was needed but nothing like the extent the mechanic had stated)
- Turbo pipes not on properly
- Exhaust blowing
- Wiper blades

We thought all this was strange at the time as the car had been running fairly well, I was aware of some problems but it had passed its last MOT with a different garage first time with only minor advisories.

The problem is I can't figure out why the mechanic/garage would lie - they didn't try much to get us to get the work done and seemed to assume we would scrap it. They didn't try to buy the car from us, or even sell us a new one. The only thing they did do was recommend a used car place, which we didn't go to.

Any ideas?

Thankyou.

PS this a garage we hadn't used before as we have moved to a new area, its a fairly established garage in the centre of a village

Joe_Horner

Possibly because they'd rather be doing quick pad & disk changes or lambda sensors on something more modern than faffing about doing what welding might be needed on an old Nova. An MOT garage can't refuse to test certain cars just because they don't want that business (it's part of their contract with VOSA) but there's nothing in practice to stop them encouraging the owners of such cars to go elsewhere.

Some garages play it straight, but the ones who use MOT / pre-MOT to bring in work tend to know what sort of work the want brought in. It's usually the minimum fuss / maximum profit type.

As for the "suggested" used car dealer - they may have a trade arrangement with them or be related to the owner?

Stephen_Leak

Report them to VOSA.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

the MOT tester on the day subjected his opinion on the car.

turbo pipes dont fall under MOT.

exhaust blowing, (if it fails emissions then its a fail simple as that) but a noticeable tone would of been heared from a badly blowing exhaust.

if you were not happy about the MOT you could have subjected it to another test at another station.

welding was most likley a mot fail if holes were present in key area's.

if water pump was leaking that badly it would have blown a cloud of smoke behind you so dense you would not see a car behind you for at least 600 yards coupled with turbo pipes not on properly you would have noticed a difference and either poor boost or boost cutoff premature.

wipers pass if they clear the windscreen and not split.

garage told you a bunch of OPINIONS, it was upto you to have a second opinion.

you lost out yes, just dont recommend anyone goes to this garage in the future and stay clear yourself.

Premier_2

CompBunny wrote: »

In the bangernomics thread a couple of weeks ago I posted that my Vauxhall Nova had failed its pre-MOT so I was selling it to a collector. I provided him with a list of faults that the mechanic had identified in the interest of honesty.

The collector I sold my car to (whose business is about 140 miles away, and I fully believe what he has said as its not in his interest to make it up!) has since contacted me advising me to avoid the garage we used in the future as the following things that he had said need fixing were untrue:
- Water pump leaking badly (mechanic said it was a wonder we hadn't blown a head gasket, they had got through litres of water just testing it)
- Extensive welding requried (collector said some welding was needed but nothing like the extent the mechanic had stated)
- Turbo pipes not on properly
- Exhaust blowing
- Wiper blades

We thought all this was strange at the time as the car had been running fairly well, I was aware of some problems but it had passed its last MOT with a different garage first time with only minor advisories.

The problem is I can't figure out why the mechanic/garage would lie - they didn't try much to get us to get the work done and seemed to assume we would scrap it. They didn't try to buy the car from us, or even sell us a new one. The only thing they did do was recommend a used car place, which we didn't go to.

Any ideas?

Thankyou.

PS this a garage we hadn't used before as we have moved to a new area, its a fairly established garage in the centre of a village

You don't need to be a master technician to verify if many of those issues are true or not.

A leaking water pump would result in a frequent water deposit on the ground and a regularly observed drop in coolant level.

Any driver should be able to examine wiper blades for sign of wear.

Even a blowing exhaust should be easily verifiable, especially once advised of the fault. (Put your hand over the end of the exhaust whilst the engine is running and you'll soon know if it's blowing or not)

Did you not check?

As for the amount of welding, then it's often a matter of personal opinion as to how best to repair rotten bodywork.

As regards the turbo pipes, it's not rocket science to pop them back on. Perhaps the buyer did it whilst inspecting the car?

Premier_2

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Report them to VOSA.

How will that help?

The OP refers to a "pre-MOT", not a formal MOT test. The garage concerned may not even be an approved MOT testing station; the OP doesn't specify that.

CompBunny

Thanks - I'm not looking to confront the garage or complain or anything, I just wanted to know for the future why they would lie so I can avoid making similar mistakes again

We were also in the process of saving for a new car anyway as it was clear that the Nova wouldn't keep going forever... although if repairs were less than £500 we would have kept it going for another year.

Wiper blades - seemed absolutely fine to us but I stupidly trusted the garage. We would have replaced these ourselves
Welding - No knowledge of this area, the sills/arches looked a bit rusty to me but we didn't know when things are a problem or OK. It had never been raised as an issue before.
Water pump - we hadn't noticed anything at all, no unusal water deposits or coolant drops although it did have when it came back from the garage..
Exhaust - He said it was a small hole. We hadn't heard any unusual noise from it and couldn't see any holes ourselves but we don't have ramps or any technical knowledge so just assumed we were missing something.

Sounds very stupid in retrospect, but our last garage was always very honest and we're both young drivers.

Lesson hopefully learnt... I feel so stupid.

CompBunny

Premier wrote: »

How will that help?

The OP refers to a "pre-MOT", not a formal MOT test. The garage concerned may not even be an approved MOT testing station; the OP doesn't specify that.

On the phone they told us that they had a registered tester as a mechanic and in person they told us they send them off to another garage for the test.

Yeah, I know. I'm a total idiot.

s_b

old novas are now a collectable commodity and can easily sell for £1000 with a current mot
i suspect you were being lined up to chop it in at the garage so they got it for a small amount
these are seen as classics by young boys who need cheap insurance

Joe_Horner

CompBunny wrote: »

On the phone they told us that they had a registered tester as a mechanic and in person they told us they send them off to another garage for the test.

Yeah, I know. I'm a total idiot.

That's not all that unusual. There's nothing to say that a tester has to be only employed by a test station, or that a station has to employ its testers full-time.

Especially nowadays, quite a few testers will work part-time for an MOT center (to cover busy times) and part-time elsewhere doing repairs.


eta: No need to feel like an idiot over it. Unless you have the time and inclination to become intimately familiar with your car's oily bits you have to take a certain amount on trust, just as you have to trust your doctor to give you the right pills when you need them.

Garages tend to have slightly less stringent checks on their ethics than your GP but, unless they're costing you unexpected huge amounts of money that you can't afford, then it's still reasonable to take what they say on face value.

Better that than to go through life permanently paranoid that everyone's trying to rip you off *



* despite what some on here might suggest

Notmyrealname

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

the MOT tester on the day subjected his opinion on the car.

No he didn't as it didn't have an MOT. It had a pre-MOT which is usually done by garages that don't do MOTs.